Air medical services need insurance support

At a time of hyper-partisanship in our country, there is one issue on which both Republicans and Democrats agree action is needed: health care costs. Although an exceedingly complex issue, with numerous solutions, one industry is noticeably at the center of these discussions — private insurers.

For too long private insurers have pursued narrow networks in order to increase their own profits and leave providers out of networks and patients footing the bill. Or, they deny claims — after the fact — for life-saving care. For air medical services, some private insurers claim that the transport to the hospital wasn’t “medically necessary,” even though air ambulances don’t self-dispatch and are only called to the scene of a health emergency when a trained first responder or doctor deems it critical to the patient’s health.

Air medical providers want to work with private insurers to go in-network and make sure patients don’t have to worry about the cost of services that were critical to their health. Across every facet of the health care system, patients deserve to know they’ll be protected when the worst happens. They deserve to know that they’ll have coverage when it counts.

Carter Johnson, Washington, D.C. Editor’s note: Johnson is spokesperson for The Soar (Save Our Air Medical Resources) Campaign.